Conferences and summits: Conference '40 Years of Schengen: People, Borders, Politics'

EMN Luxembourg and UniGR-Center for Border Studies invite stakeholders, researchers, and citizens to celebrate the Schengen Agreement's anniversary and examine its impact on open borders, Europe’s future, and the rise of national border controls.

Schengen is unique worldwide, and Schengen connects us: today, more than 450 million people in 25 EU countries and 4 European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries enjoy free movement and can travel, work, and live in an EU country without special formalities.

An estimated 3.5 million cross internal borders every day and around 1.7 million people reside in one Schengen country but work in another. Altogether, Europeans make an estimated 1.25 billion journeys within the Schengen area every year.

The European Migration Network Luxembourg (EMN Luxembourg) and the UniGR-Center for Border Studies invite stakeholders, practitioners, researchers, and citizens to celebrate the round anniversary of the Schengen Agreement but also to reflect on it critically in light of current developments.

By increasingly introducing temporary controls at the EU's internal borders, have the Schengen countries been calling into question the European achievement of open borders? Is the European Schengen spirit about to be replaced by a national border spirit? And what would this mean for the future of Europe, its citizens, and border regions?

Practical Information

Date: Wednesday 11 June 2025

Time: 09:30 - 17:00 (CEST)

Location: Chambre des salariés du Luxembourg, 2-4 rue Pierre Hentges, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Languages: English, French

Organisers: European Migration Network Luxembourg (EMN Luxembourg) and the UniGR-Center for Border Studies